How would you build split cabinet door?

[misha]

I've seen these split doors several times and have always been curious about how they are constructed. I suspect it's the same as the regular panel door, but the middle MDF panel is glued rather than floating. Is there anything more to this?

 

[tjbnwi]

We do the split doors about 5% of the builds. We do glue the panel.

These a 1” thick due to the profile.

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Tom

 

[Packard]

I do wonder how that latch works.  Is there a secondary latch for one of the doors in the interior?

Also, I brought some archeological research in choosing my door hardware.

I did not build new cabinets, but rather I refaced the old ones and made new doors.  I had the old doors to examine.

Everyone opens doors with the cabinet pulls.  But they often close the cabinets by pressing against the door itself.

The old doors told the story.  Instead of mounting all the cabinet pulls where the old ones were, I moved several of the pulls to the location where all the hand prints were. 

So far it seems to be paying off.  I would say nearly 100% my cabinet door closings are by use of the cabinet pulls. 

The quarter turn latch that holds the split door closed would be used to open my cabinets.  But almost certainly I would use the top rail to close them.  With the light colored cabinets, my hand prints would show up in a hurry.  That in reference to the charcoal gray cabinet above. 

For the image in Misha’s O.P., I would end up closing the cabinets by pressing on the lower split rail.

In either case, the cabinets would look shop worn and shabby in a hurry, especially with the white and light colored cabinet.

I don’t think people give enough thought to cabinet hardware function.

 

[peter halle]

We do the split doors about 5% of the builds. We do glue the panel.

These a 1” thick due to the profile.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

Tom

[member=4105]tjbnwi[/member] , great looking cabinets.  Do you and your crew install the cabinets you build also?  With the stacks of Systainers in the background I would suspect so.

Peter

Peter

 

[tjbnwi]

We do the split doors about 5% of the builds. We do glue the panel.

These a 1” thick due to the profile.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

Tom

[member=4105]tjbnwi[/member] , great looking cabinets.  Do you and your crew install the cabinets you build also?  With the stacks of Systainers in the background I would suspect so.

Peter

Peter

We did, we do not anymore.

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

I should have explained, we build the door as one piece with the glued panel, the next day we cut the door down its center line. This kerf is calculated in the door size. The pieces are marked/labeled (usually in the hinge cup hole) so the pairs come back together on the cabinets.

Tom

 

[misha]

Tom, thank you so much for explaining. The approach makes sense to me. I will try it in my kitchen, which I've been updating. I have a couple of older cabinets that are pretty wide, and the door swings out quite far, which has resulted in quite a few head and knee bumps over the years. This look would allow me to keep the overall look as if it was still the single door but create a better experience.

[member=74278]Packard[/member], you have great points. Are you or have you considered roles in user experience and accessible design? [big grin] I've been debating where to attach handles/knobs on the new doors. One thing I'm noticing is that on the old doors that don't have soft closing, I'm using knobs to close them. My hand acts as a soft-closing mechanism. On a couple of new doors with soft closing hinges, I mostly push with my hand and let the mechanism take it all the way.

 

[tjbnwi]

I do wonder how that latch works.  Is there a secondary latch for one of the doors in the interior?

Also, I brought some archeological research in choosing my door hardware.

I did not build new cabinets, but rather I refaced the old ones and made new doors.  I had the old doors to examine.

Everyone opens doors with the cabinet pulls.  But they often close the cabinets by pressing against the door itself.

The old doors told the story.  Instead of mounting all the cabinet pulls where the old ones were, I moved several of the pulls to the location where all the hand prints were. 

So far it seems to be paying off.  I would say nearly 100% my cabinet door closings are by use of the cabinet pulls. 

The quarter turn latch that holds the split door closed would be used to open my cabinets.  But almost certainly I would use the top rail to close them.  With the light colored cabinets, my hand prints would show up in a hurry.  That in reference to the charcoal gray cabinet above. 

For the image in Misha’s O.P., I would end up closing the cabinets by pressing on the lower split rail.

In either case, the cabinets would look shop worn and shabby in a hurry, especially with the white and light colored cabinet.

I don’t think people give enough thought to cabinet hardware function.

Being inset, there are interior stops for the doors, no interior latch on either door.

99.9% of the doors, and for that matter drawers, we build are self/soft close. No need to “close” them.

Unlike old lacquer finishes modern finishes are not affected by the oils in skin and kitchen/cooking products.

Tom